Privacy Policy

Nessie is built privacy-first. The desktop app runs locally on your PC and does not read your personal files. This page lists every outside service the app and the website contact, what each one receives, and how to make us delete what we hold.

What the desktop app keeps on your PC

Nothing about you is uploaded. Monitoring, benchmarks, learning, optimization, session reports and the record of what Nessie changed all stay on your machine. The learned data is a file on your disk; it stays there, even if your license ends, unless you delete it. If the app crashes it writes a small crash file in its own data folder; that file contains file paths (which include your Windows user name) and is never sent anywhere. Automatic results uploads are unavailable. If you export a report and send it to us yourself, review it first.

What the desktop app sends, and to whom

License validation (nessie.gg). The app sends your license key and a pseudonymous machine identifier so the one-device limit can be enforced. The identifier is derived from your Windows installation and system drive and is linked to your license in our backend. It does not include your browsing history or in-game activity.

Remote configuration (nessie.gg). The app fetches a small static file (the latest version number, a list of revoked keys, and an optional notice). This request does not send your hardware report or license key.

Game cover art (Valve and Epic), on by default. To show cover art in the Game Library, the app sends one game's name at a time to the Steam store (store.steampowered.com, images from Valve's CDN) or the Epic Games Store (store.epicgames.com, images from Epic's CDN). No account, cookie, device identifier or list of your games is sent. You can turn cover art off in Settings.

Graphics driver checks (NVIDIA and GitHub). To tell you whether a newer graphics driver exists, the app asks NVIDIA's driver lookup service or reads AMD's published version list on GitHub. It sends no information about you beyond the request itself.

Only when you start them. The network speed test uses Cloudflare (speed.cloudflare.com); latency tests contact Cloudflare, Google and OpenDNS public DNS servers; the optional hosts-file block list is downloaded from the StevenBlack project on GitHub; and the tools page downloads the third-party tools you choose from their publishers (mostly GitHub).

Every one of these services receives your IP address and normal connection information, because that is part of making any request.

What the website collects

Discord access and the waitlist. When you connect Discord, we use its identify and guilds.join permissions to read your account ID, username and avatar reference, and to add your account to the Nessie server after a valid code redemption. We do not request your email, messages, or list of servers. We store your Discord identity, referral code, redemption time, admission status and any access restrictions in Supabase. The Discord usernames of people who have redeemed a code are shown in the background of the gate page, where anyone can see them, without the account ID or redemption time. A redeemed member can also see other members' usernames and redemption times on the waitlist.

A signed, HttpOnly, Secure session cookie holds your Discord access token for up to seven days or its earlier expiry so the requested join can finish. The token is not stored in the gate database. Failed code attempts are recorded to enforce the rolling six-hour attempt limit. Hosting providers also receive connection details, such as the IP address, needed to serve requests and control abuse.

Access and referral records remain in our backend until staff remove them; automatic deletion of inactive accounts is not currently enabled. We use these records to manage access and investigate abuse. Removing admission records may also remove your server access and referral code.

This website does not currently include an analytics service. If you contact us through a support channel, we keep the correspondence so we can help you.

Support messages are voluntary. Please do not send passwords or payment-card details. For license help, redact most of your key unless we specifically tell you which verified support channel to use.

Payments

Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your card number. We store the email address you buy with, your license key, whether your payment was refunded or disputed, the purchase date, and Stripe's customer and payment identifiers, so we can validate your key, handle refund requests, and email you about your purchase. Stripe's own privacy policy governs the payment data they process.

Where data lives and how long

License records are stored in our backend (Supabase) for as long as your license can be used, so your key keeps working, and for up to two years after a refund or a lost dispute ends it. You can ask us to delete them sooner; a deleted license key stops working. Reports you send to support and support correspondence are kept only while needed to resolve or follow up on a request, subject to legal and security needs.

What we never do

We do not sell your data or run ads. Nessie includes supporting components such as Python and PresentMon; it does not bundle unrelated applications or advertising software. Nessie does not inject code into games or read game-process memory. If you turn on game presets, it reads and updates four games' own settings files on your PC.

Your rights

Contact us to access, correct, or delete anything we hold about you (including license records; deleting license records deactivates the license). Depending on where you live you may have additional statutory rights (for example under the CCPA); we honor reasonable requests regardless of where you live.

Children

Nessie is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes

If this policy changes materially we will update this page and note it in the app's release notes before the change takes effect.

Contact

Questions or privacy requests? Email [email protected], or contact Nessie staff in #access on Discord.